Damage Control
by BlueSunflower
Summary: "I'm not going to leave you." "You're doing a terrible job of reassuring me of that."


Notes:

Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne are all kinds of hilarious and hot in their scenes together. Also, written for a challenge by sidhe_faerie at The Lighthouse LJ.

* * *

God, he was exhausted. A hero's work is never done. But if Valerian thought he was going to get laid tonight, he was crazy.

The moment he arrived back at the Command Center, Laureline logged out and furiously swept past him without a word, heading straight to their ship. This left him to do all the damage control - and there was a lot of damage. Chasing a raging Decapod with ten foot tentacles and acidic slime will do that. It should be illegal how fast they can move. Good thing he had a partner willing to guide him through the chase on comms so he could narrowly avoid several inconvenient near-death experiences.

Several hours later, Valerian finally returned as well, in desperate need of sleep. He'd headed straight to his quarters, expecting her to be there. Valerian wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and push off the inevitable argument until tomorrow. He was sure she was just as exhausted (they'd been awake for nearly three straight days now), and would choose rest over bitching him out. Which suited him fine, since he'd be at full charm after a good night's sleep. Laureline never could stay angry at him when he was in optimal flirt mode.

When he discovered his room empty, however, Valerian knew it wasn't going to be that easy. He rolled his eyes and dropped his head as he recognized the impending doom he was about to walk into. Bowing to the inevitable, he reluctantly made his way to her quarters. The faint sound of his boots thudded dully on the metal pathway and he hesitated a moment, briefly considering true insanity was in pursuing this fight. Finally, he tapped on her door. "Laureline?"

No answer.

He softly slumped his forehead against the cool steel. "C'mon, Laureline," he pleaded. "Let me in." Still no answer. Enough of this. "Alex, open the door," Valerian ordered.

"I'm afraid I cannot do that," replied the computer. "The sergeant has authorized me to restrict your access to her quarters."

Sighing, Valerian pinched his nose in exasperation to the confirmation that yes, she was pissed as hell at him. For a second, he contemplated turning around in defeat and going back to his own room, then decided to screw that. "Override on _my_ authority, Alex."

"Yes, Major."

The door slid open and Valerian heard, rather than saw, Laureline shift under her covers, pretending to be asleep. This didn't fool him. Alex would have told her the moment he boarded, so whether she had been asleep or not (he suspected not, considering how angry she was), she would definitely be awake now. He entered and tried to make his way to her in the dark. As ranking officer, his quarters were more spacious, so they spent very little time in hers. Valerian muttered multiple curses as he haphazardly made his way across the unfamiliar room. Somehow he managed to make it to the bed with a minimal addition of injuries. He toed his boots off and reached for the bed sheets, ready to climb in next to her. "Laureline, move over. And give me some of your blankets."

"You are not sleeping here."

He ignored her and continued to settle in, pulling more of the blankets and pillows toward him, forcing Laureline to scoot over to give him more space. She immediately tried to launch herself out of bed, but even in his exhaustion, Valerian was still too fast for her. He managed to grab her waist and wrap his arms around her, pulling her back to him. Locking her firmly in his embrace, he marveled at the fiery energy he could feel vibrating throughout her. Her temper never ceased to amaze him.

It also seemed to never cease knocking him on his ass, as she managed to elbow him in the gut despite his stronghold. "Oof," he complained, falling back and bringing her tumbling beside him. He struggled to both keep her in the bed and from damaging him even further, "Look, Laureline, you can try and escape, but wherever you go, I'll just follow you, and all we'll end up doing is wasting valuable sleep time. Get some rest, babe. I promise in the morning I'll pull out all the stops when it comes to begging you for forgiveness."

"You better believe you will," Laureline gritted through her teeth. "But you are sleeping alone tonight."

"I sleep where you sleep," he responded, as he started to press light kisses along the back of her gorgeous neck. Her hostility started to ease as she shivered under his touch. "Or is the 'for worse' part now negotiable?"

"We're not married, Valerian."

"Technicality," Valerian argued, as she sulkily tilted her neck to allow him access to continue his lazy trail along her shoulder. "You can change that at any time."

Softening, Laureline sunk deeper into his embrace. "You could have died," she whispered.

"I had you to save me."

"Again."

"I'm not going to leave you."

"You're doing a terrible job of reassuring me of that."

"I'll do better."

"Yes, you will."

Valerian smiled against her creamy skin as he continued his journey. Suddenly, he found himself flipped, with a full view of a very much annoyed Laureline in his face.

"No. You might have managed to worm your smug way back into my bed, but that doesn't mean I forgive you enough to have sex with you." She pushed him back on his pillow, twisted out of his arms, grabbed as much of the covers as possible, huffed to her side of the bed, and proceeded to wrap herself in a cocoon of blankets he couldn't even hope to penetrate.

Valerian dropped his head back, a deep sigh escaping his lips. "Sleep it is, then."

"And you're not getting morning sex either."

"That's okay," he grinned as he drifted off. "I can wait until noon."


End file.
